Union of South American Nations

"USAN" redirects here. For other uses, see USAN (disambiguation).

Union of South American Nations
  • Spanish:Unión de Naciones Suramericanas
    Portuguese:União de Nações Sul-Americanas
    Dutch:Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties
Flag
Logo
Motto: "Soy del Sur" (I am from the South)[1]
  Member states
  Suspended member states
  Former member states
Administrative centers
Official languages
  • Spanish
  • Portuguese
  • English
  • Dutch
Demonym(s)South American
TypeContinental union
Membership
2 observers
Leaders
• President
Vacant
Vacant
LegislatureSouth American Parliament
EstablishmentFormation
8 December 2004
23 May 2008
• Treaty in force
11 March 2011
Currency
5 currencies
Time zoneUTC−05 to −03
Calling codesee list
Internet TLD
Website
www.unasursg.org Edit this at Wikidata
Notes
^S : Membership suspended

The Union of South American Nations (USAN),[a] sometimes also referred to as the South American Union, abbreviated in Spanish as UNASUR and in Portuguese as UNASUL, is an intergovernmental regional organization. It once comprised twelve South American countries; as of 2019, most have withdrawn. It was set up by Hugo Chavez to counteract the influence of the United States in the region.[3]

The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty was signed on 23 May 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in Brasília, Brazil.[4] According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union's headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador.[2] On 1 December 2010, Uruguay became the ninth state to ratify the UNASUR treaty, thus giving the union full legality.[5][6] As the Constitutive Treaty entered into force on 11 March 2011, UNASUR became a legal entity during a meeting of Foreign Ministers in Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador, where they had laid the foundation stone for the Secretariat Headquarters.[citation needed]

In April 2018, six countries—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru[7][8]—suspended their membership, and in August of the same year, Colombia announced its withdrawal from the organization.[9] In March 2019, Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro announced his country's intention to withdraw from the organization.[10] On 13 March 2019, Ecuador announced that it would withdraw from the organization. The president of the country, Lenin Moreno, also asked the bloc to return the headquarters building of the organization, based in Quito.[11] On 10 March 2020, Uruguay officially announced its withdrawal from the organization.[12] Brazil rejoined on 5 May 2023.[13]

In January 2019, amid growing concern about Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, a new group, PROSUL/PROSUR, was advanced to counteract the influence of what countries in the region call a dictatorship in Venezuela.[3] A Chilean summit to organize PROSUL was held on 22 March 2019, and excluded Venezuela. Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Guyana and Suriname were invited to join the new regional bloc.[14]

  1. ^ Guardia (24 November 2016). "El secretario general de la Unasur lanza la campaña "Soy del Sur"".
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference bloomberg1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b "South America creating regional bloc to counter Venezuela: Colombia". Reuters. 14 January 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbc2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference buenosairesherald1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference MercoPress2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Six South American nations suspend membership of anti-U.S. bloc". Reuters. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  8. ^ "Colombia y cinco países más dejarán de participar en Unasur" [Colombia and five more countries will stop participating in Unasur]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). 21 April 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  9. ^ "Colombia y cinco países más dejarán de participar en Unasur" [Colombia will cease its membership in the Unasur]. CNN en Español (in Spanish). 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  10. ^ "Governo Bolsonaro enterra Unasul criada por Lula e adere a novo organismo regional" [Bolsonaro's Government buries Unasul created by Lula and joins the new regional organization]. O Globo (in Portuguese). 7 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  11. ^ España, Sara (14 March 2019). "Ecuador se retira de Unasur y abre la puerta a nuevas iniciativas de integración" [Ecuador withdraws from Unasur and opens the door to new integration initiatives]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Gobierno anunció retiro de Uruguay de la Unasur" [Govt announced Uruguay's withdrawal from Unasur]. El País (in Spanish). 10 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  13. ^ "Brazil rejoins Union of South American Nations after 4-year absence". Anadolu Agency. 8 April 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  14. ^ "Chile confirma cumbre de presidentes para crear foro sudamericano sin Venezuela". El Comercia (in Spanish). 19 February 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2019.


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